Pawling High School Field Hockey

Alex Petti, Ariana Hamner and Sarah Apple combined for a brilliant goal off of a corner hit to tie the score at Carmel at 1-1 at the end of the first half. Petti sent the ball in to the top of the circle to Hamner, who stopped it and dropped it to her left to Apple,

This was the first game for Pawling field hockey this season, on the road to play an outstanding team at Carmel, and coach June Lagan was very pleased with the first outing

Pawling started Rebecca McKinney in goal, Alex Petti, Ariana Hamner, Callen Maguire and Jen Rabe in the front line, Sarah Apple, Nora Johnston and Caitlin Reynolds in the midfield, and Tara Smith, Elena Herrera and Marisa Kaplan on defense. Claire Olson and Monique Lamond saw a lot of playing time as reserves, as the Tigers played Carmel even in the first half before giving up two goals late to fall 3-0 on the road.

Pawling seemed to do well in the open field against Carmel, as the teams were about even in possession time and control, but the Tigers really didn’t get off a really solid shot on goal. Pawling was in the circle a number of times, but a very good Carmel defense played solid, and did not allow the Tigers to really get their feet set and get off a solid shot on goal.

Especially in the second half, Pawling was very solid all over the field and moved the ball well, talking to one another, getting open, making crisp passes with a purpose, playing very solid defense, and playing well as a team.

“This was our first game, and for that, the girls played a very good game for their first time out,” said coach June Lagan. “We are playing a very good B School, Carmel, I am not embarrassed by our performance, but we can do better, absolutely. Becky McKinney played a very good game in goal for us, and really, everybody played well, especially in the second half. We have talent all over the field, and as we get to work together as a team, we are going to be fine.”

As to solid shots on goal, Lagan said, “Right before the half we had a great corner. It was beautiful. They called it back because they said it wasn’t controlled, which I don’t agree with. But it is in the rules, your initial pass out has to be controlled, and they determined that it wasn’t.

“We played fairly even. Our first half we didn’t play our game, tried to keep jamming it up where it came from, and we didn’t spread it out. But, we did a much better job of passing and moving the ball around in the second half. We just have to finish. We are getting it up the field. We are just not able to get a shot on goal and finish the job.”

The Tigers are clearly well drilled by Lagan, who has her players running plays and trusting one another already, and it is very early in the season. The Tigers do have outstanding speed and athletic talent, and they exhibited excellent stick work in this match. They simply need to grow with each game, become even stronger as a team in each contest, and this Pawling team will be a force by the time they enter the post-season playoffs.

As Lagan said about steady improvement, “We had a scrimmage last week on Saturday, a multi-scrimmage with a number of bigger schools, and we did very well. We didn’t start out our first half very strong today. I saw more good play from us the other day in the scrimmage, at least until the second half today, when we picked it up and played much better. We are getting the cobwebs out and getting into the right frame of mind. This will be a good team by the end of the season. We have good speed and good athletes. And the corner that was disallowed, it was a beautiful goal, perfectly passed and timed, an outstanding play for us. Becky and her defense showed how well they can play. We are going to a good field hockey team.”

Roster in the 2007 pre-season workouts:
Seniors Sarah Apple, Alex Petti, Rebecca McKinney, Rebecca Garcia, Nora Johnston, Monique Lamond.
Juniors Ariana Hamner, Elena Herrera, Kallen Maguire, Caitlin Reynolds
Sophomores Marisa Kaplan, Claire Olson, Jen Rabe, Tara Smith
Freshmen Sam Baughman, Jenny Bellucci, Dara Brown, Aubrey Dakin, Sam Jorgensen, Jamie Mascarenhas, Hannah McGrath, Hillary Rivara
Eighth Graders
Alyssa Monahan, Lauren Owens